1. Name as it will appear on the ballot
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Middle Initial or Nick Name |
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2. Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):
3. Are you the incumbent? Yes
4. How long have you resided in this district/city?
5. How long have you
resided in
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26 years |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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1. Beginning with the most recent position, please list public offices which you have held. Include positions on appointive Boards or Commissions.
Public Office |
Elective or Appointive? |
Dates Held |
Leadership Role (if any) |
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Chair, Budget Committee Chair, Regional Transit Cmte.
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2. If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:
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Year of Run |
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In this section, we are seeking responses that reflect the four ratings criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character, and knowledge. These are defined as follows:
1. In a page or less, why are you running for this office? (Note: the interview committee will be given a copy of this statement before your interview; at the beginning of your interview you will have the opportunity to expand on this statement in any way you wish.)
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I am running for re-election to the King County Council to accomplish several goals: reduce traffic congestion and increase mobility through improvements to our roads and bus transit system; stabilize the county general-fund budget by balancing reasonable revenue growth with expenditure controls; and protect public safety with an effective, efficient legal system.
In my first two terms on the Council, we have made substantial progress towards these and other goals. The transportation budgets I wrote in four years as Transportation Committee chair eliminated a huge backlog of road improvement projects, tying enhancements to growth management goals. Those budgets also increased Metro transit service by about twenty-five percent, increasing ridership by nearly twenty percent by 2002.
As Budget & Fiscal Management Committee chair for two years, I helped bring county spending into line with available revenues. We brought property tax revenue growth down to the inflation rate while cutting overhead and finding efficiencies that enabled the county to live within its means. Many efficiencies and savings were found in the adult and juvenile detention systems, superior courts and district courts, while the quality of our law and justice system has been increased through innovations such as the Mental Health court.
Much remains to be done in all these areas. We need a regional package of transportation improvements that includes a new Viaduct and Evergreen Point floating bridge. County expense growth is projected to exceed overall inflation in coming years by two to three times the inflation rate, so more needs to be done to control expenses by increasing productivity and holding the line on new hires. The daily population in our detention facilities needs to be stabilized through continued implementation of community corrections alternatives such as electronic home detention and community service. We also must continue to successfully implement growth management strategies that protect our rural and forested lands -- nothing does more to protect our natural environment that successfully stopping sprawl. |
2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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King County government provides an unusually wide array of services, ranging from wastewater treatment, transit and roads to human services, public health and environmental services. This requires County Councilmembers to master a host of complex policy issues, while serving diverse constituencies. Therefore, my ability to quickly assimilate information and analyses, and my habit of working hard, are among the most important traits. Other important characteristics include good communication skills, attention to detail, patience and a sense of humor. The last two traits are key to being happy in a high-stress environment. |
3. Please describe in sufficient detail, one to three accomplishments or contributions of which you are most proud. These examples should illustrate effective skills and capabilities you think apply to the office you are seeking. These accomplishments may have occurred at any time in your personal, professional, or public life.
4. Please list or describe your current and past activities in the community in which you have acquired skills that relate to the office you seek. Include your role in the activity and the year(s) in which you were involved. Involvement consists of many areas such as family, neighborhood, community, employment, or public life.
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Raising four children with my wife Marilyn and serving as the former President of the Bellevue Schools Foundation and Co-Chair of the Bellevue Quality Schools levy campaign have reminded me of the critical importance of education as a key to the future success of our children and our community. I received a great education in the local public schools and every child deserves the same.
King County provides funding to a wonderful network of non-profit agencies that serve a wide range of human needs. My experience with private and non-profit public service organizations has been extremely helpful in helping to determine which county investments will maximize the strengths of these human services providers.
I just celebrated my 10th anniversary as a member of the Bellevue Rotary Club, which performs community service work that ranges from the local to the international. Earlier this year, I coordinated a Rotary program to gather used cell phones that were reprogrammed and given to victims of domestic violence.
The prevention and treatment of domestic violence has been a particular passion of mine. Two years ago I coordinated the annual fundraising luncheon for the Eastside Domestic Violence Program. I became inspired to help when I attended a previous luncheon and learned what a critical need there is for temporary shelter and services for women and children who are fleeing violent relationships.
Because I believed that there are many talented people who want to volunteer and do good works in the community, but just aren’t sure how they can get involved. I formed Advance Bellevue in 1991 as a training ground for community leaders and served on the organization’s board for 10 years. Every year, this program provides training and leadership opportunities to volunteers who then go on to make a big difference in their communities.
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The Metropolitan King County Council is responsible for funding and guiding a wide range of services that touch the lives of county residents multiple times every day.
Public safety is the number one responsibility of the Council. King County provides criminal justice services through the Sheriff, the Prosecutor, the Superior and District Courts, as well as detention facilities for those accused and convicted of crimes. Recent innovations that have reduced crime include at-risk youth intervention programs and the county’s Drug Court, which stresses drug and alcohol treatment programs.
Transportation is another critical responsibility. Since the Metro merger, King County runs one of the largest and best bus networks in the entire world, and we are striving to deliver as many services as possible – especially to seniors – at the lowest possible cost.
Utilities are another important function. King County treats the sewage and disposes of most of the solid waste that is generated in the county, and has a duty to work with all municipalities to ensure these services are provided in a reliable and cost-effective fashion. |
EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY
The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report is distributed to voters in print and/or on our website. It includes a summary of the candidate’s education. Please summarize your education in 120 characters (letters, punctuation, and space all combined). The League will delete material that exceeds the space limit by beginning with the last entry. Suggested order is (degree) (subject) (school) (year, if desired).
Note: If this question is left blank the League will not include education information in your candidate profile.
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B.A., Economics, and B.A., Int'l Studies, Univ. of Washington (1985), Phi Beta Kappa; J.D., Univ. of Chicago Law School (1988), Law Review. |
FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT
The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report also includes a summary of each candidate’s civic involvement. Please summarize your civic involvement in the space below. We will make every attempt to include the information in the Candidate Evaluation Report as submitted. Due to space restrictions in the Report, your response is limited to 500 characters (letters, punctuation, and spaces all combined). It is important that you list your involvement beginning with the most important and ending with the least important. If you exceed the length of response permitted, or if the League should find it necessary to shorten responses for publication purposes, deletions will be made beginning with the last item listed.
Note: This information will appear verbatim on the League’s Candidate Evaluation Report. If this question is left blank, the Municipal League will not include information on your civic involvement in the Report.
Check here if you would like the Municipal League to copy the first 500 characters from Question 4 to paste into this section.
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Finished!
If at all possible, send your response to the Municipal League electronically as an attachment, or insert it into an e-mail message (rebecca@munileague.org). Mail and fax numbers are listed below. If the League has not contacted you to schedule an interview, please call the League office at your earliest convenience.
Don’t forget to send the following to the Municipal League: a resume, a photo, campaign literature, and, if you are an incumbent, constituent newsletters and other materials. Please use the check-off list on the cover sheet of this packet to indicate which items you have sent.
Candidate Evaluation Coordinator: Rebecca Cooper
Seattle, WA 98104-1614 Fax: 425-671-0506 Website: www.munileague.org